Full Circle
by 823freckles
Summary: In 2042, Kate finally tells the secret surrounding Aaron and Clementine’s parentage. Aaron Austen Clementine Phillips, Kate Austen Cassidy Phillips


**Title:** Full Circle  
**Pairing:** Aaron Austen/Clementine Phillips, Kate Austen/Cassidy Phillips  
**Rating:** pg-13  
**Word Count:** 1,095  
**Summary:** In 2042, Kate finally tells the secret surrounding Aaron and Clementine's parentage.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own LOST or anything to do with LOST.  
**Author's Notes**: Aimee means beloved.  
This story was a bit of a struggle. Comment and tell me if it worked.

---

2004

Her two year old daughter doesn't have her father's eyes or his smile, and for that she is grateful. Cassidy doesn't think that she could handle that.

2008

The first time they met, he was four years old, and she was six. His smiling mother nudged him forward. "Go say hi, Aaron. Go say hello to Clementine."

He walked up to her and offered her one of his animal crackers. She pushed him in the mud and told him that he had cooties.

Aaron was in love.

2015

Their limbs were entangled between sheets, the first vestiges of dawn filtering through the window. She traced the curve of Cassidy's breasts, her waist, her hips. Cassidy stirred in her sleep, waking and turning to face Kate.

"Good morning."

"Mmmm…what time is it? Do we have to get Clem and Aaron up for school yet?"

Kate leaned over and kissed Cassidy's nose. "We have a few hours."

Cassidy smirked. "I have a few ideas of how we could fill the time."

"Oh yeah?" Kate slid her hand back up and cupped Cassidy's breast. "How's that?"

Cassidy's face turned serious. "You're going to tell me about the island."

Kate flinched away from her lover. She felt her stomach tighten as she was struck by memories of the island that she'd tried so hard to forget.

The back end of the plane detaching. Passionate kisses with a sad-eyed man tied to a tree. Aaron's slick body sliding from Claire into her arms. The helicopter taking her away.

"Babe. You still here? You had a nightmare again last night. You kept saying that you were sorry. Please tell me," Cassidy begged. "Let me help you."

"I can't."

2016

The gentle waves tumbled against the edges of the dock as she rested her head on his lap. With one hand, he stroked her hair absentmindedly, skipping rocks with the other. She shifted uncomfortably in her dress, the splinters in the wood poking at her stocking-covered legs. Clementine hated dresses, but her mother had made her wear one for the wedding. She was happy that her mother was marrying Kate, who had been a big part of her life for years, for nearly as long as she could remember. She was the mother of her best friend, but more than that, she was like a second parent.

"Have you ever asked your mom about your dad?"

The hand in her hair stilled. "Not really." He skipped another rock across the lake. She watched the rings ripple outward from where it landed. "She says we have each other, and you and Cass, and that is enough." His voice held a tone of finality.

It_wasn't_ enough though, not for her. She wanted to know who her father was. But every time she brought up the subject to her mom, she grew distant or angry. Clementine didn't even know her father's name.

She whispered to Aaron. "Do you think they didn't want us?"

"Why would you ask that?"

"Why would my dad never come see me? I…I want to know if he looks like me," she finished lamely.

Aaron sat up and brushed off his slacks. "Geez, Clem, if you want to know that badly, I'll help you find him someday."

"Someday." She smiled at the younger boy sitting beside her. He pulled her to her feet and they began walking back to the reception.

He turned to her when they reached the building. "Does this make us brother and sister now?" Aaron asked as he toed the dirt outside the door.

"Your mom's gonna flip if she sees you messing up your dress shoes, you idiot," she said.

He stopped. "Well, does it?"

Clementine bit her lip and looked over her shoulders. Coast clear. She leaned in and gave Aaron a quick peck on the lips. "Would I kiss you like that if we were brother and sister?"

She could see the blush spread down his neck, disappearing under his tie. "You might, you're pretty disgusting."

Clementine looped her right arm around his neck and drew him closer, under the guise of giving him a headlock.

2023

He wasn't ready to be a father. He wasn't ready. He grabbed his cell phone and walked outside, his hands shaking. "I need a cigarette," he thought. He dialed home. Cassidy answered sleepily. "Hello?"

"Cassidy. She's uhh…she's in labor. We just got to the hospital. You and my mom should come quick."

"Okay Aaron, we'll be there in half an hour. Tell my daughter that I love her."

_He wasn't ready to be a father._

---

Her whole body ached, her muscles straining, pulled taut. The faces around her blurred as sweat dripped into her eyes. "Push, Clementine, push!"

Aaron dabbed her forehead. "You're doing so good, baby."

"One more big push, Clementine, and your baby will be here," the nurse at her side encouraged.

Clementine bore down. When she heard her baby's first cries, she cried too.

---

If Kate had known Aaron's father, she might have remarked that her granddaughter had Thomas's nose, and his chin. But she didn't know Thomas.

What she saw in her granddaughter was a pair of blue eyes that were so familiar, but she couldn't quite place them.

Years had passed since she'd last seen those eyes, and years of lying to the world and to herself had eventually helped her forget the man she'd left behind on the island.

---

Cassidy never forgot, but the years had lessened the pain.

"His eyes. She has your father's eyes," Cassidy whispered to her daughter's napping form in the hospital bed. She thought about her own daughter's birth. She'd never told Kate about Clementine's father. How he was on Oceanic Flight 815 with her. What good would it do? But looking into her granddaughter's eyes, Cassidy decided that it was time to tell her wife about James Ford.

But first she cradled her beautiful blue-eyed granddaughter Aimee closer to her chest.

2042

Aimee Austen rubbed her temples, trying to prevent her growing headache from taking over as she sat by her grandmother's bedside. Nana had pancreatic cancer, and even with all the medical advancements made since Nana's own mother died of cancer, pancreatic cancer remained the most deadly.

Her grandmother stirred and moaned.

"What is it, Nana? Do you need a glass of water? More meds?" Aimee turned to call her father into the room when her grandmother's voice caught her attention. She was trying to tell her something. Aimee leaned in closer.

"Tell them. Claire Littleton. James Ford. Tell your parents, Aimee."


End file.
